George Washington University beefed up security at its top administrative building this week after a masked man attempted to sexually assault a female employee in a third-floor bathroom.

The attack occurred Tuesday as the employee was working in Rice Hall on Eye Street NW after normal business hours, according to university officials.

“A female staff member went into the women’s restroom,” the university said in an alert e-mailed Tuesday night to the D.C. campus community. “While inside the lights went out and she was attacked. She was able to resist and he fled the scene.”

GWU President Steven Knapp’s office is on the eighth floor of Rice Hall.

As of Friday morning, authorities had announced no arrests.

Darrell Darnell, senior associate vice president at GWU for safety and security, said in a statement that the university was reviewing security at Rice Hall “to ensure that we have the highest level of security possible for this facility.”

In an unrelated incident, GWU also alerted the community to five burglaries Thursday at the Ivory Tower residence hall on 23rd Street NW. Images taken from security cameras showed two women who were suspected of stealing cellphones and laptops from four student rooms.

Nick Anderson covers higher education for The Washington Post. He has been a writer and editor at The Post since 2005.

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